Sunday, July 17, 2011

Hot Duathlon

I picked the hottest day of the summer to complete my first duathlon (run, bike, run). Beat my target time, averaged 30km/hr on the bike for the first time and won my first medal for any kind of athletic endeavour since I was in high school! 2nd out of 10 men in their 40's!

This all came in the shadow of Kate's attempt at the Olympic distance triathlon yesterday. She hit a pothole on her bike and hurtled to the pavement, smashing her helmet and getting a nasty case of road rash from shoulder to calf. She is a bloody mess but no lasting damage. She was a trooper today and brought the 3 kids back to Gravenhurst to cheer me on.

Friday, July 15, 2011

June iPhone photos

A selection of summer photos that I'm finally getting around to organizing

- In true Chinese style, Zoë is rocking the adult exercise equipment in the park





















- Zoë on the Skuut bike. She refused to ride it until she found out that it meant getting to wear a helmet. Our girl's all about the gear. Now she rides it for 20 feet then climbs in the wagon. The twins ride their training wheeled bikes to and from the beach every day though (a mile each way), which exponentially improves the logistics of getting around.






















- Cover art for their 1st album. In Vancouver.






















- On the False Creek SeaBus

















- With Shauna's kids (Devin, Neve and Roan) at Cafe Deux Soleils, just like the old days

















- Molly and Zoë at the Sun Yat Sen gardens, which are beautiful and so tranquil























- Zoë looking very small at Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island























- The view from our cabin at Middle Beach Lodge




















- Zoë doing some mountaineering at the beach






















- Me and my kids (in Port Alberni)
























- An early celebration of the twins' birthday with Luc, Lisa, Sara, Eric and Max


















- Picnic at the Lumberman's Arch in Stanley Park


















- Heading back to the hotel from Chinatown, sporting their new outfits



New Watercraft and July iPhone photos

I'm always forgetting to bring my camera with me, and never get around to uploading my iPhone photos. So here are some July catch-up phone photos.

Yesterday we picked up a kids' kayak. Along with the canoe we're now up to 2 watercraft. The twins set off and announced they were leaving home. They haven't quite mastered rowing in concert yet, but look out for the mixed pair sculls at the 2028 Olympics.




















- The midway at the Canada Day festivities






















- Zoë at the folk festival, dancing with a parasol





















- burying Megan at Couch Beach



Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Folk Festival and Final Birthday Party

We spent the weekend at the Mariposa Folk Festival. Gorgeous weather all weekend. The kids had a blast. We get to experience a little bit more of the music each year as the kids get older. But we do miss the Vancouver festival, where there is so much more music aimed at the under 80 crowd.

My favourite moment of the weekend. Zoë playing with a bouncy ball near the main stage. She throws the ball past a seeing-eye dog. The dog sees the bouncing ball and bounds away from its owner, grabs the ball and runs over to Zoë, leaving the blind woman completely stranded. Zoë stares down the working dog and says "My ball, my, my, my ball". At which point I sheepishly grab the ball out of the dog's mouth and shoo it back to its owner.

For those who aren't on Facebook with me, here are 2 photos of the twins in fantastic facepaint.






















- On Friday morning we finally got around to having a 4th birthday party with the kids' friends. Pirate-themed of course.

- Kate captaining the pirate ship.
















- The pirate ship cake

















- The pirate ship cake about to be devoured pirate-style (i.e. no plates or cutlery)


















- Would you mess with this pirate?


















- Jacob and the boys digging for treasure (Nicholas, Will, Jamie and Julian)


Monday, July 4, 2011

Vancouver Island Photos

After Tofino, we headed down to Duncan to visit Luc and his family. Most of these photos, though, are from our morning at the park in Ladysmith. In my next life I'll remember to bring my camera with me more often. I'll also have to check my iPhone camera to see if I have any post-worthy pictures there.

















- Then it was off to Victoria to visit the kids' great aunt and uncle Joy and Cam. There were wagons and an ice cream maker. It doesn't get much better than that.



















- Lots of naps in cars

















- And on hotel beds


















- Molly waking up from a nap


















Photos from Tofino

We spent 3 days in Tofino at Middle Beach Lodge on our recent BC trip. You go to Tofino for the storm watching but we had 3 spectacularly sunny days.




- A bunch of photos from Middle and Long Beaches






















- I like these 3 as a twins series



















- Inside our cabin at Middle Beach Lodge





















- The view from our cabin